Do you like picking wild mushrooms? If so, be careful not
to pick a Funeral Bell, because they are almost as dangerous as the much
better-known death caps (Amanita phalloides), and even contain similar toxins.

Galerinas
are small mushrooms with broad, almost flat cap, bearing a small central brown
bump. Galerinas grow primarily in spruce and pine forests, on rotting logs and
stumps. They can be found on every continent of the northern hemisphere, and
have even been found in Australia. Galerinas may be mistaken for well-liked and
sought-after sheathed woodtufts, which are noted for their sweet fruity smell
and occurrence on deciduous wood.

This small
mushroom causes very serious poisonings. The toxins it contains are not broken
down by heat, and remain poisonous even after being thoroughly cooked. A fatal
dose for an adult is around 10-15 mushrooms - considering how small and thin
they are, that is not very much material. Poisonings have an effect similar to
that of the death cap - damage to liver and kidneys. The smaller number of
poisonings, compared to the death cap, is somewhat due to its relative
scarcity, but largely because most pickers regard all small mushrooms growing
from stumps as inedible 'toadstools'.

A few weeks ago, we put the spotlight on Cassia
in our “Spice of the Week” series. This week, we focus on one of its relatives:
cinnamon.

Though a very common
spice today, its origins were long shrouded in mystery. It was known in ancient
Greece and Rome, but no one knew where it came from! A fable by Arab merchants
claimed that wild raptors went looking for cinnamon in faraway lands and
brought it back to line their nests. Brave Arabs then stole cinnamon from the
nests to sell it. According to the storyteller in “1001 Nights”, cinnamon even
grows on the bottom of a secret lake! But alas, the truth is less spectacular.
Cinnamon comes from the Cinnamomum verum tree.

Our Cinnamon recipe is:

Devil's
cinnamon

4 tablespoons
ground coffee

6 dl
water

2
cinnamon sticks

sugar
cube

cognac

whipped
cream

Slowly
heat cinnamon and water, add ground coffee, remove cinnamon and pour into cups.
Heat a spoon over a flame, place sugar cube in spoon pour on cognac and set
alight. After flame goes out, place contents of spoon into cup. Repeat for each
cup prepared. Decorate with whipped cream.

Do spiders creep you out? If so, Atrax robustus could be a nightmare for you! This guy often lives in courtyards in Sydney's suburbs. And did you know that in some parts of Australia, Atrax spiders are considered more dangerous than poisonous snakes?

Atrax robustus is the most feared spider in Australia. It has a relatively small black-brown body. Females can be up to 7 cm long, while males are somewhat smaller at 5.5 cm. Its chelicerae (fangs) can be up to 5 mm long. It lives under logs and rocks in forests, parks and urban gardens in southeast Australia. Like other members of the infraorder Mygalomorphae, it builds funnel-shaped webs, made of spider silk. It is very aggressive and often attacks anything coming close to its nest. When threatened, it rears up on its hind legs and rocks its body. It attacks by jumping onto its victim and delivering a very painful bite.

Atrax poison is neurotoxic and extremely strong; initial symptoms appear within ten minutes, and death can occur within a few hours. Besides burning pain, the bitten area swells. Lymph nodes become infected, salivation increases, along with sweating, tearing and urination, sometimes accompanied by nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and ague. Further symptoms include stomach cramps and a tightening sensation across the chest. It is interesting that poison from this spider is extremely dangerous to humans and other primates, while other animals are essentially immune to it.

Winter is underway, so it's time for the story
of one frosty adventure. More than one hundred year ago, Robert Edwin Peary set
out on his expedition to the North Pole. And do you know which animal he would
meet during this adventure? All of this you can see on ourBLE –Expeditions.

Robert Edwin Peary

The
steamship Roosevelt, with Peary's expedition party aboard sailed from New York.
After a stop in the Canadian port of Sydney, Nova Scotia, the Roosevelt arrived
in Etah, Greenland on August 8th, and continued on to Cape Sheridan
on Ellesmere Island, where they spent the winter. From a base station on Cape
Columbia, the expedition set out in February, 1909.

Five flags at the pole

On
April 2nd, the remaining distance to the pole was only 224 kilometers.
Peary and Matthew Henson, together with Eskimos Ooqueah, Eginghwah, Seegloo and
Ootah, using five sleds and 40 dogs, with superhuman effort, marched for five
days. On April 6th, 1909 at 10am, Peary and his team reached 89°57'.
After a short rest, they set off again and late that afternoon reached the
northernmost point on the earth.

The period map of the Arctic Region

Civil
Engineer Robert Edwin Peary was born on May 6th, 1856 in Cresson,
Pennsylvania, died on February 20th, 1920 in Washington, and is
buried in Arlington Cemetery. A peninsula in northern Greenland is named Peary
Land, in his honor, and a passage in the north Canadian Arctic is named the
Peary Channel.

Pacific Walrus

Close
to the North Pole you can meet walruses. Walruses are typical inhabitants of
cold Arctic waters. These mammals, which are closely related to sea lions, can
weigh up to 1700 kg and growing to lengths of 3
m. They eat mainly snails, clams, crabs and echinoderms.

Christmas Holidays are behind us, but why not
extend a little bit of this wonderful feast atmosphere by presenting our new
content highlight - holly? Did you know that tradition states that a sprig of
holly placed inside the entry-way doorframe guards the home against lightning
strikes? Or that holly was also revered by Celts, Romans and Germans as a
symbol of eternal life?

Ilex aquifolium - image is on EOL portal under CC-BY-SA, from Sten Porse.

Christmas
holly is one of the symbols of Christmas. Christian folklore states that holly
thorns represent Christ's crown of thorns, and the red berries his blood. Holly
captures our attention with its prickly, waxy leaves and later, its bright red
berries. Its home is western, central and southern Europe, northern Africa,
Asia Minor and northern Iran. It is often planted as a decorative shrub in
parks. From May through June it blooms with tiny white flowers. In the fall,
these give rise to small red berries. The plant contains the alkaloid
theobromine, as well as other substances like saponins and terpenoids.

Cases of
poisoning occur mainly in children, from consuming the bright red berries.
Symptoms are nausea, strong diarrhea and sleepiness. Initial symptoms can occur
in children with the consumption of as few as two berries. A fatal dose for an
adult is considered to be 20-30 berries. However, newer research suggests that
even larger doses cause only vomiting and diarrhea.